After winning the first round of the presidential poll, Volodymyr Zelensky said a return of Ukrainian territory and talk of compensation would be preconditions for meeting Vladimir Putin. Putin’s Press Secretary responded by denying Russia was occupying Ukrainian land. The facts show otherwise.

Unidentified source

"Russia supports the Netherlands in its commitment to the search for truth, justice and those responsible for the crash of MH17, But… one has to admit that at the moment the main responsible party is still the state that failed to close its airspace."

Russia’s Sputnik news agency has tried to pin the blame on Ukraine’s open airspace for the downing of civilian airliner MH17. But the facts on the ground clearly showed that a Russian missile was responsible for the July 2014 tragedy.

Russia's Foreign Ministry

Press Statement

“The Autonomous Province of Kosovo was forcibly separated from the rest of the country under the propagandistic pretext of thwarting the allegedly unfolding ‘humanitarian disaster.' In reality NATO became a trigger for a real human tragedy, a smokescreen hiding the anti-Serb ethnic cleansing that caused over 200,000 non-Albanians to leave their homes.”

Russia’s Foreign Ministry flips the facts about NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999. Serbian security forces were killing and expelling Kosovo Albanian civilians before the start of Operation Allied Force. The ethnic cleansing of Kosovo Albanians accelerated during the NATO air strikes.

Russian state media claims two Russian Sukhoi-27 jets “forced” a U.S. B-52 bomber flying over the Baltic Sea to move away from the Russian border. But the U.S. Air Force says the Russian aircraft never “chased” the U.S. bomber away.

Anatoly Antonov

Russia's Ambassador to the United States

“There is no first strike concept in the Russian [military] doctrine. There is a clear reference in our doctrine when and under which circumstances we can use our nuclear weapons: when there is an attack on the Russian Federation, when there is a threat for the existence of the Russian Federation as well as our allies.”

Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

"… Maidan authorities, who under the guise of fighting the ‘aggressor’ violate fundamental rights of their own citizens and try to ruin traditional multi-faceted ties between the peoples of Russia and Ukraine, will obviously leave not a good memory, and the court of history will inevitably pass a harsh sentence for them."

Russia’s Foreign Ministry says history will “pass a harsh sentence” on Kyiv for the termination of a bilateral friendship treaty. But while Moscow has tried to blame Kyiv for violating the agreement, it is Russia which has clearly acted to violate Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

New Russian rules to regulate navigation of military ships and vessels along the Northern Sea Route contradict the UN Convention on Law of the Sea. Aspects of the existing Russian regulatory regime for commercial ships also restrict freedom of the seas.

Maria Zakharova

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman

“Our country has repeatedly historically reaffirmed its role as a state that is the guarantor of stability and security, a party that brings peace, not aggression. The Second World War and the role of the Soviet Union in it are a global example of this.”

The Soviet role in World War II is part of the historical record and predates the current Russian Federation. More recent history shows Russia not only as destabilizing influence in Europe but an occupying power in Crimea and questionable initiatives in Syria and Africa.

On the one-year anniversary of the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, England, RT has issued an anniversary report seeking to shift blame away from the Kremlin by targeting open-source investigator Bellingcat.

Dmitriy Kiselyov

CEO of Rossiya Segodnya, TV host of “Vesti Nedeli” on Rossiya 24 TV

“It is fundamental that our retaliation in case of a counter-attack would be directed against the United States, as Putin said, against ‘decision-making centers.’...Where are these decision-making centers in the United States? On the U.S. East Coast, the Pentagon, where the highest command of the Armed Forces, the Joint Chiefs of Staff is located; Camp David, the government command post the U.S. President is also present; Fort Ritchie, Maryland, a command post of the American President and command center of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Now on the West Coast: McClellan (California), a command center of the strategic offensive forces, and Jim Creek (Washington), a nuclear command control center.”

Fort Ritchie has been closed for twenty years. McClelland Air Force base closed in 2001 and is now a civilian airport. Jim Creek is a naval radio station and recreation park. And Russia’s prospective hypersonic missile Tsirkon has not been developed yet.

Vladimir Putin

President of the Russian Federation

“Russia will be forced to create and deploy types of weapons that can be used not only for those territories from which there will be a corresponding direct threat to us, but also for those territories where there are decision-making centers on the use of missile systems that threaten us.”

In his speech to the Duma, President Vladimir Putin virtually admitted Russia has deployed intermediate-range missiles that the U.S. and NATO say violate the INF treaty. His threat against Washington is not new. Putin said early in 2018 Russia had developed missiles to strike the U.S.

The Russian Embassy tweet shows the BBC producer’s claims that footage from the hospital in Douma was staged, without showing his other tweet where he says a chemical attack did happen. Also, initially sarin use was suspected, but this changed to chlorine as more evidence became available.